


Until the End of Time

by sjhw_tolerance (mscorkill)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-12
Updated: 2012-04-12
Packaged: 2017-11-03 12:49:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/381512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mscorkill/pseuds/sjhw_tolerance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dive motels are pretty much the same all over the galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until the End of Time

**Author's Note:**

> Season Ten; after The Shroud but before Unending. 
> 
> From the summer of my apocalypse; originally posted August 2007.

UNTIL THE END OF TIME

Daniel’s asleep when she returns, slipping into the sad little room as quietly as she can, the faint glow from the gas wall sconce is just enough for her to see the shallow rise and fall of his chest. Vala’s oddly grateful that he is asleep, for while he accepts the necessity of her nightly excursions, she doesn’t ever really think he approves. But, as she learned long ago, beggars can’t be choosers and no one is going to take care of them except themselves—and at this point that has become mostly her. She doesn’t begrudge him though, he does what he can and it isn’t his fault…it isn’t really anyone’s fault.

Out of habit, she steps quietly through the room and goes to look out their second story window, standing to the side and keeping out of view. The glass is streaked and dirty, a crack running through one corner, but she can see well enough. The street below is quiet though, the gas street lights providing more than enough shadows for those who don’t wish to be seen, but Vala doesn’t see any movement in the shadows. Not that she’s worried…but when you’ve just cheated three men out of a week’s worth of wages in a friendly game of Pleknoh, well, let’s just say that she’d rather not see them anytime soon.

The desk clerk was dozing at the front desk, leaning against the wall with his feet propped up on the scarred, wooden counter when she came in. The shabby lobby was empty too, either the other inhabitants of the boarding house were already in bed or more than likely, hadn’t returned for the night. She had been tempted to check the cash drawer she’d spotted hidden under the counter when they’d first checked in, but had thought better, instead ignoring the snoring clerk and lightly climbing the two flights of stairs to their room, carefully avoiding the ones that creaked.

So far they’ve been safe here, but she’s starting to get that itchy feeling; they’ve stayed here longer than any other place since it all began. Daniel says it’s because of the museum, where he’s struck up a friendship with the curator and spends hours studying the ancient texts and manuscripts of civilizations long past that traveled the stars and might hold a key to their future. But she knows better, he’s tired of running and he’s looking for a place— No, she decides resolutely, she won’t even acknowledge the inner voice that whispers her deepest fear, that he’s looking for a place to die.

She leans her head against the glass and sighs softly. It just isn’t fair, it shouldn’t have happened this way, none of it should have happened. Her life was the best it had been since she’d been a small girl, secure in the love of her parents until she finally understood why her mother cried when her father left—and when he returned again. And much like her time at the home, her life on the run with Daniel from the Ori had turned into a charade, eroding over time into nothing more another way for someone powerless to be at the mercy of someone with more power.

She had been determined that her life on Earth was going to be so much more, that with Daniel she could be so much more. And she hates that she feels sorry for herself while Daniel is dying and she hates that while she desperately wants him to live, the contrary voice inside her also whispers that her life will be so much easier once he’s gone.

Vala forces her traitorous thoughts deep into her heart and turns her gaze towards the bed that takes up most of the space in the room. He’ll get better, he has to get better; she repeats the mantra to once more, desperate to convince herself that once he’s better, it will be just like old times...the old times of running from planet to planet, hiding from those who wanted to hurt her, destroy her. The only difference now is that the enemy is bent on destroying everyone, not just her.

And while in sleep, Daniel looks peaceful now and almost healthy, she knows in the bright light of day the dark shadows under his eyes and the gray cast to his skin will only remind her that the price for Merlin’s knowledge will ultimately prove to be too costly. All their high hopes for the Sangral had been for naught, vanishing in the massive attack that had scattered everyone who still refused to bow to Origin to the far edges of the galaxy.

Yawning, she tugs the thin curtain across the window and sits down on the hard, wood chair by the bed and breathes an inaudible sigh of relief when she unlaces her boots, wiggling her toes. She wrinkles her nose at the pungent odor from her socks; she has enough extra money now after her good fortune at the gaming table that she can pay the maid who cleans their room to do their laundry. Not that they have that much…but as she has been forcibly reminded, it’s always the little things you miss when they’re gone…like clean clothes, warm food, a roof over your head, a life that still makes sense.

Stripping down to her panties and SGC issue T-shirt, Vala carefully slips into the bed, spooning up behind Daniel. The mattress is lumpy and sags, the springs creaking every time one of them so much as moves a finger. One of the universal constants, Vala has discovered, is that dive motels are pretty much the same all over the galaxy. It was the same way on Earth and it’s the same way wherever they’ve fled, as long as they have the required form of payment, no one ever looks twice at the thin, ashen faced man supported by the tough looking dark haired woman.

The irony of her current situation isn’t lost on Vala, there was a time when crawling into bed with Daniel Jackson had been one of her top priorities, but that seems a long time ago. Now she clings to him with a desperation born of fear—for her and for him. Tightening her arm around him, she presses her hand against his chest, ignoring the prominence of his ribs and instead concentrating on the still steady beat of his heart beneath her hand. Whatever happened to him when he was linked with the Ancient device and his transformation into a Prior and then back again is slowly and inexorably sapping the life out of him. She sees him fading right in front of her eyes and is helpless to do anything to help him.

Maybe if they had been able to defeat the Ori or contact the Asgard or even have retreated to the Pegasus Galaxy, there would have been a cure for him. But as it is, they barely escaped with their lives…well, what’s left of their lives anyway, Vala thinks sadly.

Sometimes—like now—when she’s alone with him in the night, her hand pressed to his chest waiting for the next heartbeat, she regrets the day she let down her guard with him and allowed him to mean something more to her. Some days she doesn’t know whether it’s self preservation or self-pity that has her regretting the day they ever met. But it’s too late to regret what has already happened and even though loving him will ultimately break her heart, she’s discovered that she can’t deny the complex emotions that bind them together. This love that she never asked for inexplicably keeps her at his side when in another time…another life…she would have turned and walked away from him without batting an eye.

They’re stuck with each other, she reminds him every so often, until the very end of time, her teasing tone now more often haunted by sadness than humor. And he smiles at her, like he always does, his blue eyes filled with a sadness that reminds her that she can try to pretend otherwise, but they both know she’ll be left to carry on the fight alone.

Vala shivers slightly and closes her eyes, forcing thoughts of the future out of her mind and letting the fatigue she’s pushed aside in her efforts to keep them alive take over. She presses her body closer to Daniel, giving him what little comfort she can…while she can.

THE END


End file.
